Sometimes Crashing Parties Can Get You Places
by lparrilla
Summary: Modern day AU: Regina crashes a party because of a dare, gets caught, and runs, prompting Robin to chase after her.
1. One

**AN**: I've been trying to write angst and failing but then I stumbled upon a text post on Tumblr and fluff so I thought hey maybe I've been trying to write the wrong things. This feels like a rom-com but anyway, here goes.

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><p>Regina is running. Fast, now that her heels are off and dangling from her hand while the other held her dress in a fist. She probably should've worn something that was less constricting and had more legroom but alas here she was. Running. Through the lobby. Probably hundreds of people watching her dart across the hall with the man trailing not far behind her in her royal blue gown. He's still a ways away from catching her only because she was smaller than him and could slip past people much easier than he ever could.<p>

She heads straight for the main door without looking back. The night is especially cold without a coat and she feels it get under her skin, sending a shiver down her spine. Bringing a coat along would have just weighed her down so she thought she could just brave the chilly night. Well, she also thought she could successfully crash someone's party and get away with it. It was, as she recalled, the wedding of a David and Mary Margaret. She didn't pay much attention to the newlyweds, only really saw their faces when someone — it might've been the best man— wanted to give a toast to the happy couple. She remembered noting to herself that they looked happy and smitten and she barely cared. She wouldn't see them again after tonight anyway.

After she turns a corner down the next block, she stops to catch her breath. She peeks her head out slightly to see if her pursuer was still hot on her tail but doesn't see anyone. Well, she didn't really pay attention to the face of the man chasing her because her first instinct was to run and don't look back. Slipping her heels back on, she stands by the edge of the road to hail a cab. Once seated nicely, she gives the driver her address and lets a proud smirk break across her face as she gazes out the window at a man in a tux looking around the corner for her figure.

Just as the cab is about to pull away, however, the door on the other side of the passenger seat opens and a different man in a suit climbs in. This one is different, has a nice stubble that's neatly trimmed.

"Hello," he greets nonchalantly.

"Excuse me?"

He puts on a smile on his face and repeats himself. "Fine evening, isn't it?" English, she notes. She never particularly liked the English accent, finds it somewhat pretentious.

She doesn't reply, only exasperation on her face, maybe a bit of bewilderment. "This cab is taken," she says.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to crash your party." He places emphasis on the last three words and can't help his smile getting wider.

Her expression drops and she's looking for something to say but comes up empty. _Crap_,however, comes into mind naturally. Her hand finds its way to the passenger door's handle, ready to leave.

He has his hands up, palms out in front of him. "I promise I mean no harm."

"Look, I'm sorry." She starts to say but doesn't know how to continue. She wants to sound apologetic but it's hard when he's sitting there, seemingly amused by all this, the smile never leaving his face. "What do you want?"

He considers her for a moment. The driver takes the silence to announce his presence. "Dude, you crashed his party?" he asks through his rearview mirror.

"No, no I didn't. I crashed _a _party." She clarifies, as if it made what she did more like a charity and less like an act of deviance.

"My good friend's wedding party, actually."

"Whoa, cool." The driver turns to face the two in his passenger seat, poised there as a witness to the two's conversation. "And you are?" He asks the man in the suit.

"The best man. My name's Robin." He extends his hand to the man in the driver's seat for a handshake.

The younger man takes it graciously. "I'm Leroy. Nice suit, man."

"Thank you, Leroy. I could say the same for your cab." Robin replies.

"Thanks, man. That's nice of you to say."

While the two seem to embrace their budding friendship, all Regina can do is sit there, taking in what's unraveling before her. She's not sure what to do, wants to laugh at how absurd this all is but can't because she's not sure how the man named Robin would react. From where she sits, however, she can appreciate his features more. His hair is slick, his suit expensive, and his cologne strong enough to reach her senses within the confinement of the cab. It's fresh, smells like pinecones and trees, kind of like forest. Although she probably should be thinking of other things instead of appreciating his forest cologne, she can't help herself.

"Hey, lady, why'd you crash his friend's party?" Leroy asks, snapping Regina back into reality and finally inviting her into the conversation. Robin also raises his eyebrows, waiting for her to speak.

She looks at the both of them who are waiting for her answer. "I was challenged to a dare."

"Who would dare you to crash a wedding? And why our good friend David and Mary Margaret?" Leroy asks again. For someone who wasn't at all involved in this whole affair, he seems pretty familiar with the details, as if he was a guest in the wedding party..

"It wasn't personal and I have my reasons." She shrugs, hoping this would suffice as an answer despite knowing that it would probably just raise more questions.

"Such as?" This time it's Robin asking her. At this point she thinks the free food and booze was definitely not worth all this trouble.

While silently praying for this to be over already, she sighs. "Look, it was nothing personal, alright? I just dared myself to do it. I'm sorry that it happened to be your friend's wedding."

Silence from the two men. They just look at each other wordlessly but she swears they must be communicating telepathically. It's like they're soul mates somehow and they've found each other. It's bizarre.

Leroy is the first to break the silence. "That was really reckless, lady. I like that."

It just got even more bizarre.

"I agree. It was rather bold. Audacious, as well perhaps, but very entertaining." Robin's shaking his collar free, loosening its grip and the bow tie he had on around his neck. "I'll tell you what, I'll let you off the hook."

"What?" She's pretty sure these two were a pair of human oddities but she likes the direction the conversation is steering towards. By now her hand has lowered from the door's handle and she is sitting a bit straighter than she was before.

"I will exit the vehicle and let you go. However, I do have one stipulation." He notices her stiffen a little, and well, who can blame her when she's in a car with two men. "I would like to go on a date with you. Tomorrow. Say, 11 AM, in that café down the street." He points towards the café to their right that's already closed.

Her eyebrows are creased, she really didn't expect the night to turn out this way. "You want to go on a date? With me?"

Robin nods wordlessly with a shrug. Leroy, on the other hand, seems to like where this is going and is nodding along. She feels like the only one who's lost and that she is.

She actually considers it before saying, "How do I know you're not some thief or something?"

"Well, I suppose you'll have to find out tomorrow. Look, I'd really love to stay but unfortunately, I have a wedding party to get back to, so I'll be waiting for you tomorrow. Leroy, it was a pleasure meeting you." He gives the man a pat on the shoulder and opens the door.

"Pleasure was all mine. Here, call me anytime if you need a ride." Leroy takes out his name card from a compartment and hands it to Robin who accepts it gratefully.

As Robin walks around the front of the car and back towards the direction of the building Regina ran away from, she rolls down the window and calls out to him. "How do you know I'll show up?" It's breezy now and the wind is playing mercilessly with her hair.

"I don't, but it would be a shame if you won't." He replies as he walks away.

She sighs and slumps into the seat. Out of habit, she bites her lower lip, processing through everything that just happened. He just asked her out on a date despite not even knowing her name. She could just pretend this all never happened and go on with her life, she thinks.

"If I were you, I'd go."

"What?"

"I said, if I were you, I'd go." Leroy says. "I mean, he seems like a nice guy."

She shakes her head slightly. _Of course you would, you two are totally meant for each other, BFFs for life_ is the snide comment she has in her head but she keeps it in. "Just… drive. Please."

As he pulls away from the side of the road, he can't help but comment. "He didn't even catch your name. You could at least play ball and meet him for lunch. What's the harm, really? If it ends badly you could just not see him ever again."

His words are reaching her but she's not sure she wants to give him the satisfaction of being right. "I'll think about it, I guess."

After a while, Leroy slows the cab and pulls over in front of her apartment building. Upon handing him the cash and him handing her his name card as well, she climbs out of the cab and walks toward the entrance.

Before Leroy has the chance to drive away, however, she turns back to face him. "Regina." The expression he wears shows that he's not sure he understands so she adds, "My name. It's Regina."

"Well, have a good night, Regina," he says before he drives away.

Once she gets into her apartment, she slips herself out of her dress and jewellery then collapses on her bed, grateful for the soft, inviting, silk sheets beneath her. As she hovers between sleep and wakefulness, she thinks of forest and pine trees and pine cones until she drifts into a dream.

When the next morning rolls around and she's standing in front of the café Robin had indicated, she's not sure if she's still dreaming or if she had really decided to take a leap of faith. It didn't really matter, she thinks, because although she's still skeptical about all this, she pushes the entrance door open anyway.

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><p><strong>AN<strong>: This was inspired by a text post on Tumblr (it was something about imagining your couples doing this or that and one of them was: "crashed the wrong wedding and now the best man/maid of honor is on my ass, but hey they're kinda hot so?" so I changed it a little and yeah. Let me know what you thought of this :D


	2. Two

AN: Thank you so much for the reviews/follows, I really appreciate it! Sorry it's taken a while to update, things are happening irl. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

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><p>The bell attached to the door welcomes her with a chime and upon crossing the threshold, she's greeted by the scent of roasted coffee beans and fresh, warm bread out of the oven and she hasn't had breakfast so she can't help her growling stomach. The counter is straight ahead of her and she makes a beeline towards it for some coffee.<p>

After receiving her order from the young lady with long dark hair behind the counter, a voice calls out to her. Robin. "Rough night?"

Like her, he's in casual clothing now – jeans and a shirt, very humble attire. She feigns surprise woth an innocent _Oh_. "I almost didn't recognize you without your bow tie and suit."

He laughs. Seems he likes sarcastic remarks being thrown in his direction. _That_ she can indulge him with. She has plenty of those. He leads her to a booth nearby that's beside the glass windows overlooking where Leroy stopped the cab the night before. She wonders if it was on purpose.

After they're seated, he says, "So, do I give off a thief-like impression?"

"I haven't decided yet." He's playful and so is she but she's definitely more apprehensive than he is. She's not sure if he can tell, but she's trying to keep it as subtle as possible. "Is this what you do? Ask women who crash your friend's wedding party out on a date?"

"Oh, I hope I didn't mislead you to think that you were the only one," he jests. "But you know," He rests his chin on his knuckles, acts as though he's trying to recall something he can't remember. "I spent the better part of last night trying to remember your name until I realised I never got it."

So that finally came up. "You never asked."

"That's true and I've been kicking myself since." She's about to tell him since there's no point in delaying the inevitable, but he cuts her off. "I just don't understand why you would hide such a beautiful name like Regina."

How the hell did he- oh. _Leroy_. That dwarf of a taxi driver. "It seems you and Leroy have been spending quality time together. I'm surprised he isn't here to join in on this date."

He shrugs. "It _is _a date, after all. Besides, I've invited someone else."

"There he is — Robin!"

Robin stands from his seat as a man comes over. As soon as Regina turns to see who it is, her expression drops and the blood drains from her every vein.

"We didn't realize you invited someone else."

"It was a last minute decision, I'm afraid. This is Regina," Robin says, gesturing towards the now wide eyed woman who's about ready to run but after last night, doing it again would infer a pattern of repetitive behavior and she wasn't really the running type so she just remains frozen in her seat.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm David and this is my wife, Mary Margaret." He smiles a little more, face lights up a little when he says the word "wife". Seems they're thatkind of couple. The lovey dovey extra sugar on candy rot your teeth down to their core kind of sweet. Or at least, that's her first impression of them from what she's gathered within the minute and a half she's been acquainted with them.

She's standing too now and her voice is stuck in her throat but she manages a sheepish smile. A throaty _hello _also escapes her lips somehow.

The woman, Mary Margaret, is smiling at her. It almost makes her uncomfortable. They all sit down then, Regina and Robin in one row and David and Mary Margaret in the other with the two women and two men facing each other. As Robin moved to sit next to Regina, he almost feels guilty but not quite guilty enough because she can see in the corner of her eyes how amusing this all is to him. The two don't seem to know it's her who crashed their party but the guilt trip is taking her to faraway places on a freight train so she's muttering curses under her breath, some not even in English.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Mary Margaret asks. Her gaze lingers on Regina.

The moment of truth. Well, if she was let off easy last night only to be thrown into the hungry jaws of a great white shark the next day, then she would learn from this and swear off any other opportunities to "take chances" for the rest of her life. By that she doesn't mean she regrets the dare — because she doesn't — but deciding to come here and meet Robin the strange English guy.

Robin jumps in to explain the story in the most diplomatic way possible. "We met in a taxi, actually. I thought it was for hire so I climbed in and there she was. Then we got to talking."

If he's not throwing her under the bus it can only mean that he did this on purpose to torture her. Well played, English man. Well played.

"That's very fortuitous. How come you've never told us you were seeing someone?" the newlywed across Regina asks again, this time looking towards Robin.

"Oh, we're not seeing each other." Regina says, hastily, practically blurts it out. She's gained some composure now that she knows she's being played. She wasn't going to let him see how he had taken her when her defenses were down. "We only just met yesterday."

She notices the raised eyebrows at that sentence and the couple exchange a knowing look. The man sitting beside her is smiling now, at what exactly? She doesn't know.

"Well, any friend of Robin's is a friend of ours." David says this time with a charming smile on his face.

She considers that statement. Regina was not a loner, that was for sure. She had good friends, Emma, for one, was her next door neighbor and closest friend. Her son, Henry, was also her friend. She gets on well with the little boy, is practically a second mother to him and Emma doesn't mind. The man she calls Gold is also a friend-slash-mentor to her. She also had a friend who preferred to be called Tink after Tinkerbell and she's one of her closest friends. So no she was not lacking in friendships. None, however, were as welcoming as these two are. Along the course of the meal, she realizes that these are good people who certainly didn't deserve to be lied to so it got harder and harder to stick around. With each changing topic, she devises a way to excuse herself early from the brunch to no avail.

Suddenly her phone rings. It's Emma. She excuses herself from the table and walks toward the counter by the main door.

"Hey, sorry to call you, are you out? I tried knocking your door a few times. I need a favor." Emma says, her voice breathless.

"On the contrary, I think you just saved me and yeah, I'm out right now. What's up?"

"I have to pull an all nighter today so I can't pick Henry up after school."

Regina shakes her head even though she knows Emma can't see her. "Say no more. I'll let you know when I get him."

She makes her way back to the table after Emma hangs up and wears an apologetic expression. This is the perfect way to excuse herself. "I'm sorry to leave early but I suddenly have something to do." She didn't really. Henry would only get off school around three thirty but this felt like a now or never chance to slip away.

They, of course, were not questioning and were very understanding. She practically darted out of there and Robin followed her out the door. "Did I scare you off by inviting them?"

Regina mocks a laughter. "Not at all, I found that _very _funny. I'll be sure to not take random British guys I meet in a cab up on their offers from now on."

"I'm sorry if that came off rather rude on my part, I genuinely thought it would amuse me." He pauses before adding, "And it did."

Robin just knows how to push her buttons. She couldn't even begin to describe her frustration, he drove her hysterical though she wouldn't vent it out loud. She's increasing her pace now, walking faster away from all this. When she gets home, she'll pretend this all was just some weird incident and be done with it. "Goodbye," she says as she walks away without turning to look back.

They manage to move on with their daily lives eventually, forgetting all that happened that chilly night when they first met, or at least, they manage to push it to the back of their minds. It's only years later that their paths once again intertwined in a small bookstore during a chilly December night.

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><p><strong>AN<strong>: Whoa, timeskip, really? Yes really. I feel like since in the show they had years apart before crossing paths again, I wanted to do the same. I also think they need a breather lol. Anyway, if you liked this chapter, go ahead and leave a review. If you hated this chapter, go ahead and leave a review as well. Sidenote - How's everyone dealing with season 4?!


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